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Thursday, October 31, 2013

The weather has been getting chillier - most nights are below freezing and most of the days aren't much above that either. That is okay - our home is warm and cozy and these sort of days are perfect for working on projects. I really do enjoy the changing of the seasons -we love the Spring with newness and growing, then Summer comes always busy with exploring and adventures and plenty of hard work, then Fall comes with lots of harvest and beautiful crisp days and then those days get a little soggy and chilly and we head towards winter and we enjoy all the cozy inside activities like reading, baking and working on projects and in the midst of winter we enjoy some nice brisk outdoor exercise like skiing too. I am very thankful to live in a place where we really see the season changes.

We have been working on projects full force this week but I don't have many pictures because my camera decided to act up and not work. I am hoping I can get it fixed soon or I may need to do a bit of camera shopping. I feel rather lost without one!

Lately it has been moccasin making central around here.
﻿

It all started because I made Aaron a moccasin making "kit" for his birthday. That was after several mentions from him about how fun it would be to make moccasins. I was able to find a free leather coat and then I printed out some instructions from the Internet and combined it with some thread and a needle. I have been working on not spending money on gifts this year and though this was a very simple one it was a bit hit.

Aaron started the moccasin making craze. I helped him figure out the pattern but he cut out the pieces and did the sewing. His are all done now and looking very cute!﻿

Then Mara asked for some scraps and she has been having fun making some beaded moccasins for a doll. (She doesn't play with dolls anymore but they are still very fun to make stuff for.) Then Megan made some moccasins for her doll. She did it all by herself and they turned out pretty cute. Then Jonathan wanted to make some for himself so we figured out that there was enough leather for that as well. Then combining the scraps with a few other scraps that I already had we have been cutting out a pair for Megan as well. So our living room has been scattered with leather (and needles!) but I do have fun looking out at all the busy hands while I read aloud. The kids love to work on projects like this while I read to them.

I recently made a basket too. This was the getting started part. It is done now but I haven't been able to take a final picture. When I do I hope to share more about this basket.

I also recently got out my knitting needles and got started on a hat. My sister-in-law has also been in the knitting mood and so she came over this afternoon to get some advice on the socks that she is making. I tried to help though I certainly am no expert!

Jonathan has also been busy cutting strips for rugs. I will have to get busy making some soon.

What sort of projects do you enjoy working on when the weather gets cool?

Wednesday, October 30, 2013

In this last week Ken and I have had a couple of fun opportunities to strengthen our marriage.

This past Saturday we had a political convention to go to in the Twin Cities area. My sister kindly watched our kids for us while we went. At this convention Ken had decided to step out on a limb so to speak and really work at promoting a man who we would like to be our next governor. Ken made up fliers to support him and so forth. One of the ways I was able to show my love to Ken was by helping him in this endeavor and then when it went very well I was able to rejoice with Ken and tell him that he did a good job. He knew that it had gone well - largely thanks to him - but he still really appreciated me telling him so.

Last night we had another opportunity to encourage our marriage. It was rather spur of the moment. Ken needed to go get some stuff from Menards for our stair project and he asked if anybody wanted to go along. Usually several of the kids will jump at the chance to go with Dad but yesterday they all seemed to be busy with something else. I was busy too - doing dishes but decided that could wait (or actually be done by someone else) and I offered to go. That is rather unusual for us to leave the kids and head off to do errands together but with Mara being 14 it is fine. Ken looked surprised but rather happy to have me offer. So off we went, hand in hand, to buy boards for our stairs. The date didn't last very long nor was it super exciting but it was fun to just have that little bit of time together.

I do truly enjoy this time of year when it feels like the seams of our house are rather bursting with all the good food that we have stored up. Sometimes I get that feeling of "What am I going to do with it all??!!" but mostly I just feel very blessed.

Some of our newer ventures into raising food have been growing Indian corn to dry (this is our second year and we planted more than last year), raising dry beans and raising popcorn (our first year for those last two). We did have them siting around in baskets that we had gathered them in for a while but then realized that there was moisture and a bit of mold was developing in some places. That needed to be gotten rid of right away!

We needed to be able to get everything dry! They all make pretty fall decorations but just how much could our house really handle -where would we put everything?

We are still working on finding spots for everything as a few things are still just laying on the counter but I thought I would show you some of what we have done....

Dad had made this wire bottomed wood box for me for purposes of cleaning beans that we had bought in bulk (that still had some foreign matter in them) but I decided it would also be a good way to get our beans plenty of air.

Here is some of our popcorn working on drying while also decorating my little shelf. We are not sure if our popcorn actually got completely mature or not. We are looking forward to trying it to see if it will really pop. I hope so! This is a smaller variety that was supposed to be able to grow in our short season.

Mara strung a bunch of the hot peppers together for drying.

Another bunch of corn. We have these scattered throughout the house.

When we really started realizing that we didn't have enough spaces to hang individual bunches of corn we decided we would have to be a little more creative and so Mara attached them all over the wreath above and I filled the swag below with them.

It is fun to see the little harvest displays all over the house.

We are feeling pretty nearly ready for snowstorms or whatever else may come our way this winter. A couple of weeks ago my parents and I went on an afternoon drive and came back with over 1,000 lbs. of food. We were picking up our 1/2 beef, wheat for my parents, my sisters and our family as well as some food for our chickens. It was fun to take a fall drive and visit 3 little towns west of us in order to pick up those things. Originally the kids and I were going to go on that drive but that was when I was having trouble with my hands (Thanks to God - they are better now!) and my parents decided to go with me. I am blessed!

Are you all stocked up for winter? Do you ever deal with the need to be creative in storing your food? Do you have any good ideas to share? I always love to hear from you!

Sunday, October 27, 2013

"Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of His might. Put on the whole armor of God, so that you will be able to stand firm against the schemes of the devil. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in heavenly places.

Therefore, take up the full armor of God, so that you will be able to resist in the evil day, and having done everything, to stand firm. Stand firm, therefore, having girded your loins with truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness, and having shod your feet with the preparation of the Gospel of peace; in addition to all, taking up the shield of faith with which you will be able to extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God."

Ephesians 6:10-17

Do you struggle with handling life? Have you put on God's armor and been clothed in His strength?
There is a mighty battle going on in life - one that we often aren't even quite aware of. If we want to be on the winning side we are going to need God's armor!

Saturday, October 26, 2013

I have had some opportunities to browse online a bit lately and I found some things that I found interesting. I thought you might as well.

When looking for some easy sheet music for a violin student I ran across the website ViolinOnline.com. In it they do have some printable Christmas and Sacred Music both for Violin, Cello and Viola but they also have all sorts of other things to help someone that wants to learn the violin. There is a category called Violin Basics that has charts and all sorts of other helpful information on tuning, theory and much more. They have something the call a self guided string class and a lot of other useful information. It is very well done. I don't know that it could totally replace a teacher but it certainly could supplement one very well.

My Mother-in-law mentioned that she had heard about planting little portions of ginger (like potato sprouts) and then it would grow a pretty plant which you could then harvest from. That sounded pretty intriguing to me as I really enjoy ginger. I found this website that has good information on how to do it. Since we live in a pretty cold climate I am going to need to try this indoors but that should be fun! Here is another website with info on it.

Today Ken and I spend a large portion of our day at a political convention and before we left I figured I might want something to keep my hands busy. I have some pretty yarn that my brother and sister-in-law gave me for my birthday last year that I wanted to make into a hat. I went searching for hat patterns and found this one that I think it quite cute. I started it today. Hopefully I will be able to finish it sometime. I am feeling a little challenged by the pattern but I think I'll get it eventually or I'll make do. :-)

I was thinking that it would be rather nice to throw breakfast into the crockpot and have it ready and waiting in the morning sometimes so I went looking for recipes. Here are some I found that I thought sounded good:

Wednesday, October 23, 2013

I read through Ephesians lately (I so enjoyed it - I think that might be our next memorizing challenge when we get done with the Sermon on the Mount) and in Ephesians Paul talks about marriage.

I think I have shared this verse before but it was a good reminder to me so I thought it might be for you as well. It says:

"Nevertheless, each individual among you also is to lover his own wife even as himself, and the wife must see to it that she respects her husband." Eph. 5:33

Now of course I love the part about my husband loving me but that isn't what we are going to spend our time thinking about. After all we can't do anything about that - we need to focus on what we as wives need to do.

The direction given here for wives is that we need to respect our husbands. Men crave respect. They want respect from their work associates, from their children and they truly need it from their wives. This is something that I understand and want to do but I don't always do it as well as I should. I need to work harder in this regard. So this verse was a very good reminder for me.

Respect can be shown in our words and our actions. I hope that both of mine speak loud and clear to show Ken the respect he deserves (or possibly sometimes doesn't "deserve" - but I need to respect him anyways!).

Monday, October 21, 2013

I enjoy horseradish. My favorite use is mixed with mayo and ketchup and used on fried fish but I also enjoy it on beef and in other things. I like to have a little spiciness now and then. We used to buy it at the store but I haven't done that for quite a few years now as my parents have it growing in their garden and they have enough to share too.

This summer I ran out of horseradish and was eager to get more but it is better to harvest in the fall so I needed to wait. Actually I read later that it is best to harvest after frost (I think it increases the potency of it) but we did harvest before that though I might go back now that it is frosted and get some more sometime.

With horseradish you want the root. I loosened up the soil around the plant with a potato fork and then I gently pulled and got out as much of the root as I was able. The horseradish had grown mixed in with my parents potatoes so we were able to dig both at once. The roots can often be long, twisted and skinny but we did the best we could.

This is some of our harvest.

My nephew Nic helped me out but cutting the leaves off for me.

Then I brought them home and scrubbed them and peeled or cut off the really bad looking parts. Then I chopped them a little smaller and but them in the food processor. I added a bit of water and a splash of white vinegar (it helps it keep better and I guess also stops it from getting super hot) and got ready to grind it up.

The food processor was taken out to the porch for this step. When horseradish is getting chopped up it is very strong. It can make your eyes and throat, etc. burn like onions except worse. I have heard of bad results of doing it inside so I decided to just play it safe and do it outside.

I let it grind up as little as it would and then I put it in a jar and am storing it in the fridge. I am glad to have a supply of horseradish on hand again!

When my sister processed some I took to her she did do it (in her blender) inside but she had the blender right under her fan/vent.

Do you process your own horseradish? Do you do anything different? I would love to have you add your thoughts or tips! Also - what do you all like to use horseradish for?

Friday, October 18, 2013

It's been a while since I have blogged. I don't normally take extended breaks but lately blogging has needed to take a back seat.

Our family has dealt with a month of sickness. That always seems a little embarrassing to admit when we try to lead a healthy life style, we try to eat right and get plenty of sleep. But life happens and sickness does come. And you know what... we learn from it, it can help us grow closer to God and lean on Him a little more. I realize a little more how I can't really do things on my own and His strength is needed.

First the kids got sick (Ken and I fought little cold germs but nothing substantial) with fevers and coughing and the like. We had to slow down a little but life went on. But then a couple of weeks ago it was my turn to truly get sick, I was the one running the high fevers and then the one coughing and coughing and experiencing many a sleepless (well not completely, thankfully, but nearly) night.

I don't care for going to a doctor because I know that generally sicknesses are viral, there isn't much they can do and I would prefer to use natural methods anyway. So we drank gallons of herbal tea, we had raw garlic, tonic made with apple cider vinegar, horseradish, garlic, hot pepper, onion and ginger, chicken soup, cayenne pepper and lots of rub downs with garlic salve or essential oils and I even tried an onion poultice one night. I am sure everything did help but the sickness just kept hanging on.

I did get over my fevers (after a couple of weeks) and thought I was getting better though my chest did still feel very heavy and if I wanted any sleep I had to be majorly propped up but then on Tuesday my hands and feet started doing weird things. They would feel itchy and tingly and then they swelled up and my hands turned a purple/grey color. What now?

This picture kind of shows what has been happening. Sometimes the whole hand is affected and at other times the thumb and sometimes another finger don't have a problem. Anyway at this point Ken says, "Please go to the doctor". I hoped I could possibly get in at the Naturopathic Doctor here but I couldn't get in that quickly so off to urgent care I went.

Concerning my hands the doctor says "I think it is an allergic reaction having nothing to do with being sick". Allergy to what - we have no idea. I have my doubts about it not being related. Concerning my sickness she decided that I did have a bacterial pneumonia which probably piggy backed on to a case of viral bronchitis. So an antibiotic I did get after all. Hopefully it works okay.

As far as the hands... I am not sure what to do, the purple finger saga continues. It isn't all the time (thankfully, as it is quite painful) and each time only lasts from 15 minutes to an hour but today it happened 4 different times which was up from the previous days. Could it be because my oxygen levels are low, maybe I am low on iron, do any of you have any ideas? The MD wasn't interested but if this continues over the weekend I think I will make an appointment with the naturopathic doctor after all.

But on to more interesting and exciting subjects!

It has been a regular play around here lately. Pirates, cowboys... you never know quite who you are going to run into. :-)

Also... Do you see what they are standing on???? Wood floors!!!

The long unappreciated carpet is gone. (From all but the girls room - that might happen this weekend). That carpet that was good for me for practicing contentment but I certainly am excited to be rid of it! This project happened while I was sick and that was a little interesting and overwhelming to have the chaos of moving things out of one room and getting things pulled up and what have you. I would lay on the couch and watch and whenever I could stir up a little energy I would paint a wall (since the trim was off and the floors were out it really seemed like the practical time to paint even though I felt nasty). Ken and Jonathan did the majority of the floor, it is made in a new way which makes it really easy to lay. It was a great learning experience for Jonathan.

That was a sneak peak of what things look like. I hope to give a full tour soon.

Thanks for joining my on my journey. How has your life been going lately?

Sunday, October 6, 2013

Lately I have so often been realizing how I simply do not have enough strength. Not enough time. Not enough ability. There is no way that I can accomplish what I would like to do on my own. Even some very simple things I have been struggling with.

Thank God for His strength! There is no way I could get through life without Him!

Here are some verses that I found encouraging on this subject:

"But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong." 2 Corinthians 12:9-10"Do you not know? Have you not heard? The LORD is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He will not grow tired or weary, and his understanding no one can fathom.29 He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak. 30 Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall;31 but those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.""""" Isaiah 40:28-31"God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble." Psalm 46:1 "I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge--that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen." Ephesians 3:16-21 So whether you are noticing God's strength in amazing ways in your life or whether you are being perfected through weakness I encourage you to trust God fully, always turn to Him for strength each day and then be thankful for whatever He gives.

Saturday, October 5, 2013

Any of you that have been reading my blog very long are probably aware of my love for do-it-yourself-recycling. Over the course of this summer I have taken a few pictures that I decided to combine together in this post to share a few recycling and money saving ideas.

The picture above shows a project from our last homemakers group this summer. One of the ladies that was coming requested a flower arranging class as she knew that was something that I did. I was agreeable but I didn't have a lot of vases on hand right then that I just wanted to give away and not get back and I had failed to remember to ask the ladies to bring their own and I didn't really want to go out and buy them - even though they are usually quite cheap at second hand stores. I preferred to figure out a way to use something I had. That something happened to be olive oil bottles. I had quite a few and though I have used them to store my homemade vinegar I don't seem to have a lot of used for them. Vases would be perfect.

First I need to get the label off of them. I soaked them in hot vinegar water and then scraped with a knife, then added a little oil and rubbed with a rag. The labels came off fairly easily (not perfectly always but good enough). To make them look more finished I wrapped some twine around the lip, hot glued it in place and tied a little twine bow. The flowers my friend and I were able to gather from our gardens. We were able to make enough to give away to others too so that was fun.

Another project that I worked on this summer was underwear. Not something I discuss to often in public but I think it is a good idea to share every so often in case someone else likes to repurpose things and save a little money.

I changed these items made out of knit from this:

To this: ﻿

Though actually in those pictures I have the wrong matchup - I don't have anything made from the cameo material and I do have boxes made from some other repurposed knit fabric. I re-use elastic from old underwear if it is still serviceable.

Boxers are pretty easy to make, so are ladies/girls underwear:

I went from this:

To this:

My exciting discovery in underwear making this year was on how to trim the legs. In the past I have used elastic which looks kind of funny, sometimes doesn't feel that great and also uses something that I don't get as easily for free. Then I tried just hemming the leg hole - that was way to loose. So this time I cut a strip from the knit fabric, I sewed it on like you would bias tape except that I stretched it while sewing it. This new method works great!

One day we were over at my parents and my mom sent Mara out to pick apples using this clever "basket" she had made from an old laundry detergent container.

Another something that my mom saved... Deli containers complements of my sister (she would bring them home from work and Mom washed and saved them). A couple of times while taking some short little trips with my parents this summer when we needed to eat on the road, my Mom used these to pack the meal. It didn't make things pretty nifty for eating in the car and the kids thought it was pretty fun to get their own lunch. Mom gave us a set so we have now used them on a car trip or so as well as to pack our lunches in when we go to homeschool group. We still might not have all the fancy juice boxes and processed snacks that other kids sometimes have but we have some nifty little containers for our lunch. :-)

When I was looking through pictures I noticed this one that I took today of a Bridal Bouquet that I delivered today. There are no recycled items in this picture (though we have extended the life of the bench by sanding it down and varnishing it two times) but it reminded me of some that I used today. When I deliver the bouquets for the bride and bridesmaids I need them to be in water so that they will stay fresh as long as possible. My mom and I save all sorts of bottles for this purpose - oil bottles, mayo jars, creamer containers, etc. Some we have to cut the skinny neck off of and others we use as is except with all of them we wash them carefully out. This works just fine for delivering flowers and saves my business money. I also need something to put the corsages and boutonnieres in when I deliver so Ken at his business saves all his envelope boxes and any other small boxes that come his way and I use them (as well as any others that I am able to save). Nobody has complained about my packaging and I have even had one mother of the bride carefully return all the plastic mayo jars before, and this saves my business money which in turn saves us money.

Wednesday, October 2, 2013

This has been a busy week and one which I have been fighting some germs so I haven't had much energy for blogging but I had a thought (probably one I have shared before) that I wanted to share on the topic of marriage.

Ken bought wood flooring to put down in our upstairs (I am so very excited!) and so this week we have been trying to work on getting it put down. It has reminded me yet again how strengthening it can be for a marriage to work together.

Sometimes with Ken busy with his business and me busy with homemaking and my business we can struggle finding time to work together so I treasure these times when we can do that.

Do you like to work with your husband? Do you ever offer to help when he is working on a project (even possibly working on the car - possibly you can hold a light in the right place)? Do you think that working together helps your marriage?

Tuesday, October 1, 2013

I was recently asked to review a set of books to help we Mom's as we parent our daughters through their tween years. The author of the books is Dannah Gresh (with Suzy Weibel joining her on the "Girl's Guide"), and since I really truly enjoyed and appreciated Dannah's book on parenting tween (8-12 year olds) boys I was eager to read this book as well.

This book is written differently than "6 ways to keep the "good" in your Boy", I believe that one is more like her "6 ways to keep the "Little" in your Girl" (which I haven't read), This book - "Talking with Your Daughter about Best Friends and Mean Girls" is more like a manual. It has plans for "8 Great Dates" that you are supposed to take with your daughter. It also has memory verses planned out, devotions to use and even scripted (on your part - not your daughter) discussions to have.

The subject matter discussed is very good. Some of it I haven't dealt with either with my daughters nor did I deal with it growing up, I think the reason being because both I and my daughters are/were homeschooled and we have lived much more sheltered lives. That in my book is a plus of homeschooling! However there were many things that she talks about that is applicable to any girl. Throughout the book she encourages the memorizing of 1 Corinthians 13 and encourages actions to go along with those thoughts on love.

There were things that I really liked about this book and others that really weren't my style. I thought I would share a quick list of pros and cons in my opinion:

THINGS I LIKE:

Emphasis on spending time with God. It made me realize my need to encourage my children in personal devotion time a little more.

Encouraging scripture memorization and study. God's word is what we truly need to help us through life.

Practical advice on modesty. I love her non-condemning but very strait forward modesty tests that she encourages girls to run their clothes through. She makes it fun and simple. I might prefer a little stricter standards in one area but mostly I thought they were very good.

Encouraging close and good relationships with other girls.

Encouraging girls to be a friend and choose friends that will help them stand up for what is right.

Practical advice on boys (which she spells boyz -which for some reason irritates me)- encouraging girls to put off having boyfriends until they are a good deal older than being a tween. I thought her approach on this was good. It isn't quite the same as mine but very practical.

Good thoughts on cell phones for kids.

THINGS THAT WEREN'T MY STYLE:

Going on dates. I love spending time with my children and I love having one on one time too. However the whole date thing seems weird to me. I am not sure why, but it does. I guess I prefer our time one on one to be a little more spontaneous - a walk with Mara to see some new beauty in nature that God is displaying today or perhaps time spent with Megan while we work on a craft. So, dates aren't my thing - but perhaps they are yours.

Scripted discussions. If you want for me to have a very stilted conversation just give me a script. I have tried using that sort of thing for teaching kid's classes at church and they just don't work for me. I prefer to talk naturally using my own words - and we do talk. We have talked about the majority of the topics in the book as they come up naturally in our discussions. That again is one of the benefits of homeschooling - we have so much more time for talking.

Some weird spellings and other "cool" modes of speech. I guess I am old fashioned.

So, for me this wasn't a book that I was going to use as it was written to be used but I did still enjoy reading through it and think that I learned some stuff from it and was reminded of other things that I should think about while raising my daughters.

The book "Talking with your daughters about Best Friends and Mean Girls" has some removable worksheets in the back to use on your dates and there is a book that is just for the girls to go with the one for moms. That book is called "A Girls Guide to Best Friends and Mean Girls". It is a fun easy to read book that talks about being a friend, encourages time with Jesus, our best friend and the book is filled with games, fill in the blank and other fun things for girls. There is also a focus on looking to the scripture for answers.

So as I said before I think these are nice books with a good message and I think that many moms and daughters would gain a lot from going through them. The way it is done is not my style but I am different from any other mom I know (we all are unique) and I think this would be great for some moms.

GIVEAWAY

Does this sound like something that would be helpful to you and your daughter (or maybe you know somebody else that could use it)? I have the opportunity to give away both of these books to some blog reader.

If you would like to win please leave a comment including your e-mail address. In your comment I would love to hear your thoughts on the subject matter of these books.

If you would like a second chance at winning then please become a follower of my blog or subscribe via e-mail and then leave another comment telling me that you do so.

This giveaway will go through October 5th.

Disclaimer: I was given these books for purposes of reviewing. The thoughts written are my own.

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My Family

Welcome!

Hi! I'm Abbi. Thanks for visiting my blog!
I am a Christian, wife of Ken and homeschooling Mama to my four beautiful children.

This is my place to record and share the steps along my journey in trying to be a Proverbs 31 woman. I have many interests (the Prov. 31 woman seemed to as well!) and so you will find a large variety of topics in my posts. For the most part they center around God and family who I love dearly. I love it when others who are likeminded come and join in the conversation!

My life's list

To Glorify God and seek His will and do it.

Gather and fix a wild food meal

Go on a family history learning trip on the East Coast (partially done, but we didn't see enough!)

Complete the suzuki method in both violin and cello

Memorize a complete book of the Bible (Did the book of James and Colossians)